Tobacco-cutter.



No. 688,0li. Patented Dec. 3, |90l.

A. w. ADT. TOBACCO GUTTER'. 'c un oct.9,19o

(Appli a. n led 2 Sheets-Sheet I.

(No Model.)

l a f? WITNESSES N NVENTUR= T Nonms mins co.. ruomuwn., wumnmn. D. c.

Patented Dec. 3, |90I. A. W. ADT.

TOBACCU CUTTER.4

(Application lad Oct. 9, 1901.)

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

- INVENTUM- QQ/fz Wsw-455555:-

UNTTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALBERT w. ADT, or BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

TOBACCO-CUTTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N0. 688,01 1, dated December 3, 1901.

Application tiled October 9 1901. Serial No. 78,070. (No model.)

To ctr/ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT W. ADT, of the city of Baltimore, in the State of Maryland, have invented certain Improvements in Tobacco-Cutters, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to certain improvements in that class of tobacco-cutters in which a mass of compressed tobacco-leaves is slit vertically by a series of separated knives and the slitted portion sheared oif by a single knife in order that the product will consist of granulated tobacco the particles of which have a rectangular shape and are of a practically uniform size.

The said invention consists in certain improvements in the tobacco-cutter shown and describedin my application, Serial No. 72,981, filed on the 23d day of August, 1901, to which reference should be made. The principal elements of the machine described in the said pending application consist of a suitable frame with endless conveyer-belts which feed compressed tobacco-leaves to an open curved face,the portion of the edge ofthe frame which is at the bottom of the opening serving as one member of a certain cutting device. The other members of the said cutting devices consist of a head guided by links connected to a shaft from the center of which is struck the said curved face, and it carries a shearing-knife and also fixed separated slittingknives,which have a movement in common with that of the head. The said head has an up-and-down movement eected by means of a crank-shaft and links which connect the head with the crank-pins. In the operation ofthe said machine at each downward stroke of the cuttinghead the compressed tobacco which has been projected beyond the curved face of the frame is cut in horizontal and vertical directions and falls as granulated tobacco.

In the present invention I employ substan` tially the same frame with the curved face and the cutting-head with its shearing-knife but instead of the fixed separated slittingknives having a movement in common with the shearing-knife I employ a system of rotary circular separated knives on a shaft supported in a horizontally-moving head which is drawn toward and moved from the compressed tobacco, the said circular knives moving inward as the shearing-knife moves upward and outward as the shearing-knife descends.

In the further description of the said invention which follows reference is made to the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof, and in Which- Figure 1 is an exterior side view of the principal parts of the improved machine which constitutes the subject of the present invention, and Fig. 2 is au exterior front view of the same.

Referring now to the drawings, 1 is the frame of the machine, and 2 the main driving crankshaft, which receives its motion from a pulley. (Not shown.)

3 3 are the endless conveyor-belts arranged and driven by the gear-wheels 4 and 5, which receive their motion from the worm 6 ou the shaft 7 in a manner similar to that described in the said pending application. I

8 is the cutting-head carrying the shearing knife 9, which is moved up and down by means of the cranks 10 of the shaft 2 and the connecting-links 11. The cutting edge of this shearing-knife is guided and held against the curved face 12 of the frame 1 by means of the links 13, which are coupled to an eccentric-shaft (not shown) in a manner substantially the same as that described in the said pending application.

17 is a head carrying the separated rotary knives 18, which are secured on the shaft 19, and the said head is adapted to slide on the rails 20, forming parts of the brackets 21, toward and away from the curved face 12 of the frame 1.

22 22 are links with one of their ends united to lugs 24, forming parts of the head 17. The other ends of the said .links are connected to the pins 25 of the crank-disks 26, which are tight on the shaft 29. The shaft 29 is driven from the main driving-shaft through the medium of the spur gear-Wheels 30 and 31,Which have a com mon diameter. Consequently the shearing-knife and the rotary slitting-knives work in unison.

Below the main driving-shaft 2 is a shaft 33, having atight pinion 34 in mesh with the gear-wheel 31, and as the diameter of the pinion is much less than that of the wheel 31 the shaft 33 is rotated at a high speed. The shaft IOO 33 has a pulley 35, which is connected by a belt 36 with a smaller pulley 37 on the shaft 19 of the rotary knives 18. As the rotary knives 18 are liable to become clogged by the juices in the tobacco, the head 17 is provided with a comb 39, (shown only in Fig. 1,) the teeth of which comb it closely between the said knives and serve to cleanse them of adhering matter.

The various parts of the machine being in the relative positions shown in the drawings, the operation of reducing a compact mass of leaves to a granulated form consists as follows: Asthe shearing-knife 9 ascends the compressed tobacco is fed through the Opening in the front of the frame 1, and at the same time the circular slitting-knives begin to move inward, and by the time that the knife 9 has reached its highest position the circular rotary knives have passed through the projecting mass Of tobacco. As the shearing-knife begins its return Or downward move ment the slitting rotary knives move away and out of its path and the slitted mass is sheared OE and falls as granulated tobacco.

I claim as my invention- In a machine for granulating tobacco, the combination of a frame having an opening in its face, and compressing and feeding belts to carry a mass of tobacco through the said opening, a head carrying a shearing-knife with means to reciprocate it vertically across the said opening in the frame, a system of separated rotary slitting-knives with means to rotate them, and mechanism to move the said slitting-knives toward and from the face of the frame, substantially as, and for the purpose specified. v

ALBERT W. ADT.

Witnesses:

OREGON MILTON DENNIS, EsTEP T. GOTT. 

